| Community Tasting Notes (average 91 pts. and median of 91 pts. in 35 notes) - hiding notes with no text |
| | Tasted by coremill on 2/23/2024 & rated 92 points: This has rounded fully into form: black fruit tinged by herbs and earth, juicy acid, medium weight but intense, with a lot of acid in the midpalate but incredible length to the fruit on the finish. Happy wine. (400 views) |
| | Tasted by Keith Levenberg on 1/8/2024: It's been about two years since my last bottle. The fruit in this one is fresher but the texture is softer and rounder. It pops with vibrant red berries with even a little bit of raspberry zing. A little Benjamin Button action here in the fruit department. The crunch has mellowed out though. The green peppery bite that I always love about CRB still has the refreshing green but more of a breezy streak than a sharp bite. But there is no diminution in energy. This is still a wine that you half expect to glow in the dark. Nothing has the life force of CRB. (1410 views) |
| | Tasted by SoundinBetween on 8/4/2023: Dark garnet in the glass with a bit of sediment showing. Deeply pitched nose of damp earth, dry smoke, beetroot, and plums; the palate was in top form with ample acidity and supple tannin, silky but not too refined. Perhaps drying out just a touch but overall hard to find fault here, this would have been even better with food (of any kind). On its plateau of maturity and should hold for a decade easily. (517 views) |
| | Tasted by decaturwinedude on 7/20/2023 & rated 94 points: A Good Wednesday: Riesling and Friends: Knoll, Prum, Schaefer, LdH, CRB Pif, Gahier... (Northen China Eatery): Beautiful wine. Earthy and crunchy with clean red fruit balanced with earth and sous bois for days. So poised. Almost refreshing after a night of Riesling and spicy food. This still shines. (840 views) |
| | Tasted by JohnMcIlwain on 4/22/2022: Beautiful nose. Vibrant and pure. Still juicy and pretty on palate with a shimmering undercurrent of soil underneath. Acidity and tannins seem to be just resolving. No shame to drink now if you have a few. I’ll probably wait a bit until opening another. CRB seldom disappoints and this is no exception. (1563 views) |
| | Tasted by Keith Levenberg on 2/20/2022: Still has all its youthful energy and crunch. But now moving past its youthful fruit. Opens with deep earthy scents, including a bit of the barnyard, then the familiar snap of sweet peppers on the entry. There are some crimson-reddish tones as the shadow of the original fruit but for the most part the color palette is all dark and dusty. The country tannins and earthy elements give it a back end and mouthfeel swirling with chalky gravel. (3750 views) |
| | Tasted by MikeATL on 10/18/2020 & rated 89 points: A little tight and closed at the moment, as opposed to a much brighter 2013 tasted with it. (2794 views) |
| | Tasted by ssouth on 10/5/2020 & rated 92 points: 2014 Clos Roche Blanche Cuvée Pif Vin de France, alc 12%. Blend of Cot and Cab Franc Nose starts a little sour and funky. Palate is leafy and crunchy. Slate and rainwater come to mind. Has done cigar ash going on. Stays savory but very interesting. Drying tannins (2357 views) |
| | Tasted by vulgar little monkey on 8/22/2020 & rated 94 points: Man, every bottle of CRB is bitter sweet. Moreso than even the things like Verset or Gentaz back in the day. There are things that scratch that itch, but I haven't found anything that quite gets me where CRB does. I went through a rough patch with CRB in the early to mid-aughts. Maybe it was the wines maybe it was me, but the wines that Didier and Catherine made in the last years of CRB have all been just excellent. Showing similar to a previous bottle with brambly fruit with the fresh tilled dark earth with herbal and floral notes. The thing that grabs me is a deep haunting sense of soulful depth. It feels like knowing a special secret but most of all, it just makes me happy. (2800 views) |
| | Tasted by grog on 6/26/2020 & rated 92 points: Some reductive funk upon opening, which blows off after about two hours open. The minerally Cab Franc side is dominant right now, total rockhead wine. I suspect this is still 2-3 years from really hitting its stride. (1819 views) |
| | Tasted by vulgar little monkey on 9/30/2019 & rated 93 points: Soulful, sui generis wine. A deep version of this with lots of earth under the brambly fruit. Good backbone and a fine testament to Didier and Catherine. (2610 views) |
| | Tasted by Beerzebub on 7/13/2019: P&p and finished the bottle in a few hours, keeping it slightly chilled. Thoroughly enjoyable. Hints of Brett, mainly in the form of a clove note, but not a problem; didn't save any to find out how it would fare on day 2 (had one go very Bretty on me when I did that). (1646 views) |
| | Tasted by Beerzebub on 7/7/2019 flawed bottle: Day 1: P&p. Another terrific bottle. Ready to go right away. Delightfully pungent, earthy, rose, cherry, clove, and leafy/twiggy/mossy scents. Consistent with when I last tried this in early 2018, just more together now, with the tannins a bit more integrated. Juicy and delicious, perfectly approachable but with plenty of quirky character. Good stuff.
Day 2 (refrigerated overnight in a smaller bottle): Unfortunately has become overly Bretty, with the clove intensifying and a bit of mouse creeping in. Still has its attractive side but is only marginally drinkable, even for someone not generally averse to Brett. (1783 views) |
| | Tasted by MikeATL on 7/20/2018 & rated 92 points: Clos Roche Blast!: A blend of 60% Côt and 40% Cabernet Franc, with tiny amounts of Cabernet Sauvignon and Pineau d’Aunis, this chameleon of a wine starts out showing its Cabernet Franc character with dark fruit and herbs, then with some air the pure purple fruit Côt steps forward to lead the orchestra for a while, before receding to let the Cabernet Franc again command the stage, though this time in a more rustic, olive-tinged, herbal style that reminds me a lot of Olga Raffault's 2009 Chinon Les Picasses. It has plenty of tannin but plenty of fruit to keep it balanced.
Fun, interesting, and pleasurable on a primal level that nourishes the soul and the body. Based on my experience with 1997, 1998, and 1999 Côts and the 1999 Cabernet in recent years, I expect that it has years of pleasure left to offer. (2498 views) |
| | Tasted by Andyofoto on 6/23/2018: just perfect for this evening. miss these wines (2092 views) |
| | Tasted by Beerzebub on 3/6/2018: P&p. Open, expressive and aromatic right out of the bottle. Rose, cherry, tobacco, black tea, moist mossy earth, deliciously pungent. On the palate it comes across as young still, with fairly assertive coarse tannins and equally assertive acidity, not working with each other perfectly; but enjoyably intense, sappy/bitter, stony/earthy, tasty/moreish. Seems to smooth out with air and/or palate acclimation. Characterful and enjoyable wine. Fun now, but seems like there is no rush. (2030 views) |
| | Tasted by coremill on 3/11/2017 & rated 91 points: 2 bottles, ordered off the list at Rebelle. The first was pretty much everything you could want from a young wine of this type: powerful black fruit showing the Cot much more than the Cab Franc, lots of herbal/foresty complexity, complete and savory and complex through the mid-palate with energetic acidity, much more elegant than my previous bottle 18 months ago. A wonderful pairing with roast lamb. The score is for the first bottle. The second bottle wasn't corked so I accepted it but it was oddly muted and flat in comparison to the first bottle, and 20 minutes later it became clear that it was marred by stinky/bandaidy Brett. The highs and lows of Loire reds summed up. (3027 views) |
| | Tasted by Rollerball on 2/8/2017 & rated 87 points: Good bouquet and a true enough palate that reveals good judgment in the blend. For me though, two soft; flaccid. (2810 views) |
| | Tasted by Mlermontov on 9/5/2016 & rated 91 points: Corey and Linda NYC lunch: every time i taste their wine i am happy. that is what this wine is - happy. pretty, ripe delicious flavors, light and refreshing... one thinks of summer evenings on the coast.. and yes this is a RED wine. but there you go... just a smile in a bottle. (3088 views) |
| | Tasted by acyso on 8/27/2016 & rated 90 points: Matt's housewarming (Skokie, IL): There's a nice touch of herbaceousness on the nose, followed by a big heap of ripe but still acid-driven fruit on the palate; I quite liked how juicy this was but with all the savory elements keeping them in check. While this is quite good, I certainly don't see it as deserving of all the praise that the NY-hipster-unicorn crowd seems to lavish on it. (3393 views) |
| | Tasted by joperasinger on 5/11/2016 & rated 91 points: Green pepper aroma, dry but malbecy dark fruits (2658 views) |
| | Tasted by Beerzebub on 2/8/2016: P&p. Tight/young but excellent. Tightly coiled dark fruit, rose, black pepper, earth; a touch of twigs/leaves/black tea, restrained but enough for character/interest; nice freshness and depth. Good fresh acidity. Fairly tannic, going sandpapery toward the finish. Impression of firm stony minerality in the very dry finish. Good stuff!
Day 2 (stored in a half bottle overnight): more open and expressive, super fresh and vibrant, very very good. (2311 views) |
| | Tasted by Chaz Bham on 2/5/2016 & rated 90 points: Robe intense et profonde, comme un bassin d'encre. Mûres juteuses sur le nez et la bouche. Rustique, avec des éléments tertiaires sauvages. Un vin gouleyant. (2286 views) |
| | Tasted by Sheila62 on 1/15/2016: Just a really great vintage for this remarkable cuvee. As usual wonderful purity of fruit, yet great structure, and great acidity. This is a young Pif, that was better with air. What a way to go out!! (2205 views) |
| | Tasted by THECORKDORK on 1/6/2016 & rated 90 points: Rustic in the most positive senso of the word. Vegetal. Mushroom grit, earth spice. tomato, currant. Juicy and stemmy. A simple wine with a lot of soul. (2051 views) |
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